Nothing wrong in Dar’s charities, NAB tells AC

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has told the Accountability Court (AC) in the supplementary reference that it could not find any misutilisation in the accounts of Hajveri charities run by former finance minister Ishaq Dar.

However, NAB says that the source of donations made to his charities is yet to be explained by Dar because the burden of proof is on the accused as per the order of the Supreme Court dated April 20th 2017. The Bureau’s investigation put a reality check on the charities run by Dar and found that an orphanage is looking after at least 92 children as of January this year.

The investigation report says that National Bank of Pakistan’s President Saeed Ahmad is an old chum of Ishaq Dar and it as because of his closeness to Mr Dar that first he was appointed as Deputy Governor State bank of Pakistan and later as President NBP. And that Saeed Ahmad was Director of Hajveri Mudarba Management Company which was owned by Ishaq Dar in 1991. NAB has dug out at least seven bank accounts of HMMC which were in the name of Saeed Ahmad and transactions worth Rs 482.8 million in Pak rupees and $ 4 million (approx. 72 million as dollar was Rs 18 in the early 90s).

NAB has only mentioned that Saeed Ahmad did not open these accounts and that these accounts were in the use of HMMC and not Saeed Ahmad. NAB has termed this allegation as illegal omission to abet the offences done by Ishaq Dar in opening fake bank accounts in the name of Saeed Ahmad. Saeed Ahmad has told the investigators that Mr Dar had told him that NAB had scrutinized these accounts in 1999 as well and could not find anything suspicious.

The NAB’s investigation has quoted the JIT report and has mentioned that Ishaq Dar made donations worth Rs169.276 million to two charities i.e. Hajveri Trust and Hajveri Foundation.

The Investigation Report states, “Ground Check of Hajveri Trust: The ground check of orphanage home was conducted on 27 01.2018 to verify the existence of Hajveri Trust orphanage ‘Saaya” The orphanage is located on Raiwand Road, Ali Razaabad where orphan children are being taken care of and the orphanage was found functional.

It can be concluded from the above stated facts/record that the amounts of donation by Muhammad lshaq Dar were donated to those as stated in his documents. As far as the matter of keeping the amounts of donations in his access, the amount donated to Hajveri Foundation i.e. Rs 43.3 million was In his access as he was the signatory of the bank accounts of Hajveri Foundatlon but nothing has been found mis-utilized based on audit reports and documents produced by the Secretary of Hajveri Foundation. However, the source of Income of these donations has yet to be explained by Muhammad Ishaq Dar except the amount of donations made to Senate Employees Welfare Fund and National Assembly Employees Welfare Fund amounting to Rs 10 million that was paid from his salary account in ABL Bank Parliament House Branch.”

NAB has concluded that Hajveri Trust and Hajveri Foundation are two charitable institutions that have been founded by lshaq Dar In year 2000 and 2003, respectively, for welfare purposes. These charities are registered With FBR and are audited on regular basis by Karamat MA Chaudhri & Company Chartered Accountants Lahore. Hajveri Trust does not accept donations from general public and is being run mainly with the donations made by lshaq Dar, Shahida Naeem and Ali Mustafa Dar. Hajveri Trust is running an orphanage “Saaya” in Lahore for the welfare of orphan Children since 2001 and currently 92 children are being looked after by the said orphanage. Shahida Naeem is the Chairperson of the Trust while Muhammad lshaq Dar, All Mustafa Dar, Asma Ali Dar, Naeem Mahmood are included in the list of trustees.

Regarding the Mutual Legal Assistance sent to dig out businesses of Ishaq Dar and his sons, NAB has mentioned that MLAs have been sent to verify properties mentioned by Ishaq Dar in his nomination papers with the Election Commission of Pakistan. NAB says that during the further probe, MLAs have been sent to UAE to verify the following businesses of Ishaq Dar’s sons: 39-storey HDS Tower in Jumeriah Lake tower Dubai; HDS Business House; HDS Sunstar 1 and 2; Sobha Ivory 1 and 2; HDS Mini Golf; HDS Rent a Car; HDS Estate; Jupiter Estates Limited; HDS Tower Management Limited; Services and Trade Company Limited; Baraaq Holdings Limited; International Investments Holding Limited; Techno Built Space Limited; HDS Galestates Limited; HDS Facilities Management; Petro Planet DMCC; Mars Estates Limited.